The Detroit Pistons selected Arizona SF, Stanley Johnson with the eight overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft on Thursday night.
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Johnson had been widely predicted to be a target of head coach Stan Van Gundy in the weeks leading up to the draft, but when Detroit went on the clock at No. 8, the Motor City was beginning to rumble.
The reason?
A proven winner at Duke, Justise Winslow was still available.
Following the selection, Pistons fans and even members of the media made their opinions of the pick known via twitter.
Of course, there were some who actually liked the pick, and those who didn’t, may have had their concerns eased (at least for a moment) once Johnson dropped this well-known one liner:
For me personally, I’m not going to be to harsh on Van Gundy for this pick due to my faith in his talent evaluating abilities.
However I will say that the more film I watched on Johnson, the more my concerns did grow.
Johnson is a big, strong individual. There is no denying that. However, at times it almost seemed as if he used his size and strength to get over on his opponents in college.
While that is certainly fine and all, the NBA is a different animal and everyone is bigger and stronger.
In 2014-15, Johnson averaged 13.8 PPG and 6.5 RPG for the Wildcats, but his best attribute could be his ability to guard all five positions.
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